PARIS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Andreas Zagklis, secretary general of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), said here on Sunday that the basketball tournament attendance of Paris 2024 will definitely break the record.
The Olympic record for attendance in the basketball tournaments was 1,068,000, set at Atlanta 1996. “At the end of the Australia bronze medal game, we had 1,066,000 and unless you expect less than 2,000 attending the final, we will be making an Olympic record today,” Zagklis said at a press conference before the women’s final between the United States and the hosts France.
The 13,300-capacity Bercy Arena was over-packed in the afternoon final and record was definitely broken even without the final figures of the attendance.
“We have only 52 games here, 40 less in Atlanta,” he added.
Zagklis said the average number of the group stage for the women’s tournament in the Rio 2016 was only 3,000. “We had here 22,800 average and of course the numbers are staggering and show the growth of our sport both in the men’s and women’s sides,” he said.
Zagklis also released for the first time the broadcast viewers for the men’s final between the U.S. and Serbia, which was 13 million on NBC in the U.S., and more than 10 million viewers in France. The semifinal between France and Belgium also received 5.5 million viewers.
“We had a tournament of extremely high quality and talent on the court, and at the same time very, very competitive with the best players in the world showing to each other that you need a lot of great teamwork and commitment to make it to the top,” the secretary said.
South Sudan finished with one win and two losses in a group with the U.S. and Serbia at their maiden Olympics. Japan men’s team almost beat France, only losing 94-90 in overtime, while Nigeria women’s upset Australia 75-62 in the opener. Basketball in Africa, Asia and South America is more welcomed and developed.
Zagklis said, “We will continue investing in the things that nobody else wants to invest – the youth events and the development camps that upgrade the skills of the people in the federations. What you see today is the work of six to eight years ago. It takes time.”
